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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robconley" data-source="post: 8165547" data-attributes="member: 5636">Well the ripples are the choices, mine and the players. The wave interference are the consequences of those choice. Then on top of that new pebbles are thrown in by myself and the players creating new patterns on the "surface" of the setting. A major difference between my approach and the other being described  is that I don't have a preconceived notion of where the pebbles may fall. On my side it starts out with the description of the NPC characters, their motivations, and their plans. The NPCs plans get updated after every session to reflect what the player do or don't. That is in essence the interference patterns eluded to in my analogy. Because I don't control the what the player decide, things often and do take off in unexpected direction.I ran 14 groups as part of the formal playtest of my Scourge of the Demon Wolf sandbox adventure. Plus the initial time using 3.X, then another time using GURPS, and three times with D&D 5e, and once heavily modified for Adventures in Middle Earth. All started with the same initial circumstances, one of them dealt with it the same way and had very different experiences. One group antagonized the village priest, another turn them into allay. Most groups kept the wandering beggars safe from the wolves and the angry villager who blame them for the current issue. One managed to unite the two group to stand against the Demon Wolf pack and led them to victory when they attacked.The process is straight forward. Jettison one's preconceived notions, set the stage, see what the PCs do, and react in accordance to how the NPCs personalities and details are defined. After the session update the setting and its characters. Rinse and repeat throughout the life of the campaign following where the players go until it reaches a stopping point.</blockquote>

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